2009.07.16

Getting in Touch with My Inner Bumpkin

In the late nineties Dave and I lived in Shanghai, and for about a year I commuted by train to Nanjing, where I spent Mondays through Fridays sifting through stacks of pre-Communist era archives. I quite liked my research, but I can't say I enjoyed those Monday morning and Friday evening train rides, when I'd be squeezed into a too-small seat and surrounded by folks shouting - to be heard above the din of tinny music and propaganda piped into the car - into their mobile phones. At least there was always conversation to distract me.

Queries from seat-mates would follow a predictable arc. Where are you from? How old are you? Are you married? How many children do you have? (A sharp intake of breath would always follow my answer of "None.") What's your work? What's your husband's work? What's his salary, and yours?

(In China, this is not an invasion of privacy. It's conversation.)

Then, "Can you eat Chinese food?" And "What's your favorite dish?"

"Jiaozi, shuijiao. Or daoshao mian," I'd reply truthfully, referencing the love of boiled dumplings and hand-cut noodles I'd developed when I taught English in Sichuan province in the mid-eighties.

Most of my fellow passengers were businesspeople from Shanghai, China's most cosmopolitan city, occupied by millions of urban sophisticates. (Or so Shanghai ren believe - or did then, anyway.) And many were old enough to remember, or had heard about from their parents, the lean years of the pre-Deng Xiaoping era, when meat was a luxury and noodles or rice occupied the center of the table.

In 1997 Shanghai rice was what you ordered at the end of a meal, and only if you were still hungry after feasting on fish, meat, and vegetables. Noodles, buns, or dumplings were everyday food, a snack or quick lunch or breakfast - certainly nothing to be considered on the level of Shanghai's famous cuisine (excepting Shanghai's own xiaolongbao).

There I was, living in China's greatest city, naming the staples of the rural hinterlands - lumpy dough balls and irregularly shaped noodles shaved from a crude block of dough - as my favorite Chinese foods. Obviously I was crazy. Or a bumpkin.

(I'm proud to say I never backed down - and recall with amusement that after some good-natured back and forth, a few of my fellow passengers admitted that they, too, were huge dough lovers).

I remembered all this last month on Taiwan, where Dave and I ate a lot of dumplings and noodles, the kind of dumplings (thick-skinned, stuffed with pork studded with so many Chinese chives it was often green) and noodles (made with nothing but wheat flour, water, and salt and hand-cut into substantial, ropey strands) that transported us right back to Sichuan.

It was as if a long-dormant craving had been awakened. Here in Malaysia - anywhere in Southeast Asia, really - we're surrounded by noodles. But there is something about the weight and heft, the texture and mouthfeel, and (when they're made with really good flour) the flavor of of mainland-style wheat dough that hits a chord with me. It's a chord a rice flour noodle will never hit.

Away from China for so many years, I'd forgotten.

So, on Taiwan we ate shuijiao and daoshao mian (and other wonderful wheaty treats, like scallion pancakes and shuizhen bao - more on those to come) every chance we got. One day we ate them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And woke up the next day eager for more.

Our day of all-dough piggery ended around 9:30pm, with a bowl of zhajiang mian from a stall on Da'an street run by 'Old Beard' (that's what the sign says). We'd just finished a plate of boiled dumplings at a stall up the street and were plenty full, but when we spied the pile of uncooked noodles as thick as my pinky finger next to Old Beard's boiler we knew we had to stop.

This is the kind of place where, when the noodles are running low, Old Beard or his helper (above) run into the back of the shop and whipup another batch quick as you please, rolling out and cutting the dough by hand.

And those noodles are fantastic, as satisfying a wheat noodle as a wheat noodle lover could wish for. For zhajiang mian, Old Beard crowns a mound of them with slightly sweet, slightly salty chili-bean sauce, sliced pork, and shredded cucumber. Pickled mustard and pickled scallion greens with chili are there on the side, to add as you wish.

On Taiwan, my inner bumpkin surfaced. I embraced it. And I don't care if Shanghai's most cosmopolitan denizens - and the rest of the world - knows it.

I. Am. A. Bumpkin.

Old Beard's Noodle Stall (noodles served a number of ways), Da'an Lu, a short walk from the train line's Da'an Station. Late afternoon till 10-ish or so.

Comments

But aren't these the cornerstones of all chinese food? I can't imagine going anywhere in China that doesn't sell/serve/make jiaozi or rice/wheat noodles, or baozi. They are definitely comforting and I'd put them on my list of favorite chinese foods too. Since it's been so hot lately, I've been going around the liang pi or liang mian stalls, having my cold noodles with vegetables and dofu spiced by chilli-garlic sauce. Or when I come across someone making a batch of jiaozi, there's no way I'm going to pass up a chance to try them, they're so cheap!

Very interesting, i grew up on rice flour and eggy light wonton noodles. I despised the bumpkin dough lovers up until i was 30,then all of a sudden i had cravings for what you're having now but served cold, thick ,and oily spicy, especially in the summer heat. if the italian pasta was for casual users, the shanghai stuff is just for noodle junkies.
another good story Robyn(Tulao-er).

Let's hear it for the bumpkins! Say it loud and say it proud, I LOVE my carbs! Having descended from peasant stock, I'm obviously staying true to my genetic heritage! Your photos have me drooling and I only just ate.

I found your food blog going through a few links. Glad I ran into it. Didn’t know that the food blog/recipe community was so big online. I love your posts!

I was wondering if you would like to exchange links. I’ll drop yours on my site and you drop mine on yours. Email at ramendays@yahoo.com or stop by my site and drop a comment. Let me know if you would like to do a link exchange.

I'd rather have noodles and congee anytime vs ordering dishes to go with steamed rice. We were in China in the mid-80s where food wasn't as plentiful but dumplings were still yummy as the filling was made from pork skin and fried lard. Incredible!!

Haha Shanghai isn't quite like that anymore, and the Shanghai-Nanjing train is fine now - devoid of judgmental nosy parkers. You're bound to find people in any major city that seriously believe their home is at the center of the universe, that thumb their nose at everything else. Shanghaiers have always had a funny reputation, and if you buy into massive generalizations - the Northern Chinese are less 'uptight' (especially about noodles and carby deliciousness!).

Holy $!@#$!!!! MYGOD! Those noodles look SO good! I mean, really. I'm just imagining its chewy nature, and that savory topping... [drool] And oh, the pictures are exceptionally LARGE in my blog reader. So, WOW!

Mila - They are. But they are fairly 'unsophisticated' foods relative to dishes. I'm with you - I love liang mian and we had plenty tasty bowls of those on Taiwan too!

EastingFeasting-I know those noodles of which you speak (write) - the oily, spicy ones. Really my favorite. And with a thick wheat noodles like this, just wow.

Moya, Jodi - Thanks.

Caleb, thanks for dropping by. We don't do 'link exchanges' - the blogs listed on our sidebar are ones that we (I) happen to read regularly. Good luck with your blog.

Chris - I'm with you. Was thrilled to have dumplings on Taiwan that took us right back to mid-eighties China.

Yiyang - Generalizations aside, Shanghainese really are their own kind. I find Sichuanese and northerners (spent about 1 month in Dalian during this period) to be more frank and easy-going. In 1998 a Shandong woman selling jiaozi in Shanghai (who did not at all care for Shanghai ren) said in reference to folks from her part of the country (and in comparison to Shanghai-ers): 'Women xiang jiu shwo, shwo jiu zuo.' / We say what we think and we do what we say.
Some will buy that stereotype, and some won't.

Life 2.0, thanks. We're far from Jakarta but have plans to be there next month.

eatingclub - well, they are VERY good. Glad the photos bring it home for you. Cheers.

I'm tellin' ya, as the daughter of a mainland-Taiwan transplant -- they really know how to do that doughy stuff in Taiwan. I grew up thinking those foods were Taiwanese... it wasn't until I was well into adulthood that I realized they were actually from Shanghai on up!

We seek out noodles and dumplings wherever we go in Asia - had some yummy meals in KL.
This post reminded me of the Anthony Bourdain No Reservations Hong Kong segment on the old bamboo noodle maker - a thing of beauty to behold.
We are fortunate here in Vancouver to have a few noodle shops where they still hand pull and hand cut the noodles.

Jennifer - To me, anyway, noodles like this just say 'Sichuan' or 'northern China.'

Mononoke - thank you.

Linda - there are definately great noodle dishes in KL. Just none like this. There's one place that does the bamboo noodles - haven't been.
I've heard really good things abt Asian food in Vancouver. Would like to check it out in person, one day.